Columns Of Stone Or Coals Of Fire?
Preaching
Shaking Wolves Out Of Cherry Trees
And 149 Other Sermon Ideas
Purpose Statement: Revenge has no place in the Christian's repertoire.
With the bombing of the World Trade Center September 11, 2001 (as I write this, smoke is still coming from the ruins a few days later), there was an outcry for revenge. We must kill them. Even the president demeaned himself with violent rhetoric claiming we would go to war, a war the likes of which has never been seen before. The show of hate was depressing. However, the outpouring of letters and comments asking for peace, restraint, and no retaliation shocked me! There was a greater showing of common sense than I would have expected. I think society is seeing some growth towards real civilization, perhaps. In a continuum of virtues, love is at the top and hate at the bottom. Yet society still expresses so much hate and desire for revenge. Every Christian is required to abstain absolutely from feelings of hate, violence, and revenge. Jesus' teachings (Matthew 5:38-48, one of many examples) and Paul's reiteration (Romans 12:9-21) leave no doubt as to what our posture should be regarding the proper response to insult, hate, and violence. Two contrasting scriptures illustrate the extremes. From the Old Testament (where one can unfortunately find many violent passages) comes the story of Samson's revenge (Judges 16:23-30). After being blinded by the Philistines he is able to grab the columns of the building where people were gathered and pull down the columns, bringing the building crashing down on his enemies. Compare this with the Christian teaching of Paul in the Romans 12 selection cited above where our love will bring coals of fire upon our enemies' heads. It doesn't mean hurt or harm. The Good News Bible uses the phrase "burn with shame." Reasons why vengeance is wrong would include:
a. Revenge brings revenge in return. It is a vicious circle. The same hate that produced the revenge will be exacerbated into more hate by the revenge. World War II grew out of the bitter feelings left over from World War I. The World Trade Center incident was partially spawned by the Persian Gulf altercation among others.
b. Revenge eliminates our chance for healing and reconciliation. Someone has to stop the escalation and show maturity and be civilized. If either Israel or the Palestinians -- just one -- would stop the terrorism against the other, peace could be worked out. Which group will be adult enough to stop "getting even"?
c. Revenge destroys the revenger! Hate eats us up. In some cases it can do more harm than the original insult. Then the enemy has two victories over us!
With the bombing of the World Trade Center September 11, 2001 (as I write this, smoke is still coming from the ruins a few days later), there was an outcry for revenge. We must kill them. Even the president demeaned himself with violent rhetoric claiming we would go to war, a war the likes of which has never been seen before. The show of hate was depressing. However, the outpouring of letters and comments asking for peace, restraint, and no retaliation shocked me! There was a greater showing of common sense than I would have expected. I think society is seeing some growth towards real civilization, perhaps. In a continuum of virtues, love is at the top and hate at the bottom. Yet society still expresses so much hate and desire for revenge. Every Christian is required to abstain absolutely from feelings of hate, violence, and revenge. Jesus' teachings (Matthew 5:38-48, one of many examples) and Paul's reiteration (Romans 12:9-21) leave no doubt as to what our posture should be regarding the proper response to insult, hate, and violence. Two contrasting scriptures illustrate the extremes. From the Old Testament (where one can unfortunately find many violent passages) comes the story of Samson's revenge (Judges 16:23-30). After being blinded by the Philistines he is able to grab the columns of the building where people were gathered and pull down the columns, bringing the building crashing down on his enemies. Compare this with the Christian teaching of Paul in the Romans 12 selection cited above where our love will bring coals of fire upon our enemies' heads. It doesn't mean hurt or harm. The Good News Bible uses the phrase "burn with shame." Reasons why vengeance is wrong would include:
a. Revenge brings revenge in return. It is a vicious circle. The same hate that produced the revenge will be exacerbated into more hate by the revenge. World War II grew out of the bitter feelings left over from World War I. The World Trade Center incident was partially spawned by the Persian Gulf altercation among others.
b. Revenge eliminates our chance for healing and reconciliation. Someone has to stop the escalation and show maturity and be civilized. If either Israel or the Palestinians -- just one -- would stop the terrorism against the other, peace could be worked out. Which group will be adult enough to stop "getting even"?
c. Revenge destroys the revenger! Hate eats us up. In some cases it can do more harm than the original insult. Then the enemy has two victories over us!
